[Forge-main] Skills List [LONG]

[Ricardo Gladwell]

Hi All,

After resolving the naming and dice mechanic issues I know move onto the
issues of skill/abilities. My design principal for skills is closer to
the d20 approach: that is, rather than have a more open-ended list of
skills, where the effective list of skills is near-infinite, we have a
more close-ended list. This makes deciding which skills to use for a
particular action more of a science and less ambiguous.

What I need are some thoughts, criticisms and ideas for the skill list
and rules I have compiled so far.

In addition to skills, we also have skill groups. This are open-ended
lists of similar skills. For example, the Arts group is a set of skills
for various types of art forms. For example, you could have Art
(Sculpture) or Art (Painting). Skill groups are also skills themselves,
their rating equal to ever two skill ranks you have for sub-skills from
that group. For example, a character with Art (Sculpture) 3 and Art
(Dancing) 2 has a basic skill of 2 in Arts. If he has no skill in a
particular Art he can substitute his basic Arts skill instead.

The list I have devised so far is as follows:

Basic Skills

Acrobatics
Brawl
Diplomacy
Dodge
Expression
Heal
Intrigue
Intuition
Leadership
Manipulation
Sport
Stealth
Strategy
Swim
Survival
Track

Skill Groups (Open-Ended Skill Lists)

Animals
Arts
Crafts
Cultures
Language
Knowledges
Sciences
Vehicles

Natural Skills (Skills For Innate Abilities)

Hear
Jump
Run
Sight
Smell

Here follows a detailed description of why I have chosen the above
skills (the design rationale) and what precisely those individual skills
cover:

Acrobatics
----------

Acrobatics represents the basic 'amazing feats of dexterity' skill -
amazin jupms, balancing on tight ropes, swinging from chandeliers. I
intended this skill to encompass a wide scope, including climbing. Do we
need a seperate Climb skill or is this skill sufficient?

Brawl
-----

General unarmed combat skill for punching, kicking, head-butts, biting,
etc.. Is this a good name for this skill and if not is there a better
one?

Diplomacy
---------

General negotiations skill, good for dealing with outsiders,
barganining, basic etiquette and so forth. Is this better represented
with other skills (see Cultures, Intrigue)

Dodge
-----

Basic dodging skill, making it harder to hit you in combat. Should this
be under acrobatics or does it really deserve its own skill?

Expression
----------

Oratory skill - getting your ideas across. Is this the same as
Manipulation or is it different?

Heal
----

This is a tricky one: how does this work across different genres. In
fantasy this would be your basic, primitive ability to clean wounds etc,
but in a modern setting this would be more akin to first aid. And what
about medical science, chirurgy, surgery etc.?

Intrigue
--------

Basic politicking skill - how to handle yourself in sensitive, political
situations, gossip and so on. See Manipulation and Cultures for similar
skills.

Intuition
---------

A generic skill for guessing or determining someone else's intentions
(aka Empathy) or detect lies.

Leadership
----------

Basic leadership/management skills - motivating and controlling a large
group of people.

Manipulation
------------

Usually most games have several skills (intimidation, lying, seduction,
etc) but I think these can all go under one skill. For example,
intimidation is a Strength/Manpulation roll. Thoughts? Am I mad?

Sport
-----

Sport in the old sense of the word - running, jumping, and so on. Basic
ability to run fast, jump high or long and so forth. Is this right or
should there be seperate skills for Run, Jump etc?

Stealth
-------

Fairly self-explanatory - sneaking around skill for skulking, shadowing
and moving silently.

Strategy
--------

Basic tactical/warfare skill for determining a good stategy for combat,
and so forth.

Swim
----

Self-explanatory. Is there any place for this skill under another skill?

Survival
--------

Basic ability to survive in the wild. Does this skill include Track or
is that a seperate skill?

Track
-----

Ability to follow someone. Is this skill replicated by Stealth, Scent or
Survival. I don't know!

Animals
-------

Knowledge of how to handle and care for a particular animal. For example
Animal (Horse) permits you the ability to ride a horse, care for it,
etc.

Arts
----

Knowledge and talent for a variety of art forms, such as painting,
drawing, and so forth.

Crafts
------

Inlcudes ship-building, blacksmithing, guns manufacture and so forth. Is
this a good, genre-neutral heading for this skill group?

Cultures
--------

Knowledge of a particular culture or strate of society, including
politics, etiquette and so forth. For example, Culture (New York/Street)
would allow you to get by on the mean streets of New York, whilst
Culture (Nobility) would allow you to pass as a noble in the royal
court.

Knowledges
----------

Basic knowledges, such as History, Occultism, and so forth.

Weapons
-------

Skill groups for vazrious weapons, from swords, to semi-automatic
weapons.

Sciences
--------

Knowledge of various sciences, including Medicine, Chemistry, Psychology
and so forth. More useful than knowledges.

Other Possible Skills
---------------------

The following skills are quite common in many genres but don't quite fit
into the above. I'm not happy with them unless there can be a method of
turning them into more generic skills or finding a place for them with
the group skills.

Administration/Beuraucracy
Computers (Knowledge?)
Disguise
Forgery
Hide
Lock Picking (Craft?)
Martial Arts [Group]
Meditation
Pick Pocket (Craft?)
Research
Ride (same as Animal Handling - perhaps an Animal skill group)
Sleight of Hand
Teaching
Throw
Traps

Ideas?

-- 
Ricardo Gladwell
President, Free Roleplaying Community
http://www.freeroleplay.org/
address@hidden